This invention relates to a portable and tampering-proof container or cassette for receiving currency "purged" from a cash dispenser or captured identification cards, for example, in association with an automated teller machine (ATM).
Stated briefly, to utilize an ATM, a customer inserts an identifying card into the machine to identify his or her account number, and then he enters certain data on the keyboard of the ATM to further identify himself and to indicate the amount of cash in the form of currency, for example, that he wishes to obtain from the ATM in a typical cash dispensing function. The ATM will then process the transaction, update the user's account to reflect the current cash withdrawal, dispense the requested currency, and return the identifying card to the customer as part of a routine operation.
The currency to be dispensed from an ATM is generally stored in containers or cassettes which are inserted into the ATM and which position the currency or bills to be withdrawn from the container by "picking" mechanisms associated with the ATM as part of a routine cash dispensing transaction described previously. After the bills are "picked", they are stored temporarily inside the ATM in what may be referred to as a "presenter" which collects the bills until the number of bills to reflect the requested cash withdrawal is reached. Thereafter, in a routine transaction, the bills collected at the presenter are dispensed to the customer.
If the ATM detects that a "double bill" (two or more bills which are overlapped) has been picked, or if it detects that one of the cassettes is out of the required number of bills to make up the monetary amount of the requested cash withdrawal, the bills which are temporarily collected at the presenter will be "purged" or deposited in a purge bin or cassette located inside the ATM instead of being dispensed to the customer. In the "double bill" situation, the ATM will make another attempt to dispense the requested amount of cash. If the ATM is out of the required bills of a certain denomination, the customer will be informed of this fact via a display associated with the ATM.
Periodically, these cassettes with the "purged" currency or bills therein are removed from the ATM by bank personnel, for example, and are then transported to the host bank where the cassettes are opened and the bills are reclaimed. In some situations, third party security firms may be responsible for the transporting of the cassettes to the host bank.
From what has been described, it is apparent that the cassettes with the purged bills therein are subject to what may be referred to as "sophisticated pilfering". This pilfering includes activities designed to remove at least some of the contents of the cassettes while making it difficult to ascertain who in the processing chain was responsible for the pilfering. It is obvious that someone bent on stealing the entire contents of the cassette could steal the entire loaded cassette at various times during the processing chain.
It should be recalled that as part of the identification procedure for using an ATM, a customer inserts his identification card into the ATM and thereafter enters other identifying data on the keyboard associated with the ATM. Sometimes a customer, through inexperience, fails to complete the identification procedure. At other times, an unauthorized user of the card (which may be stolen) fails to complete the identification procedure. The ATMs are generally designed to "capture" the identification card after a predetermined number (usually three) of unsuccessful tries at completing the identification procedure. These captured identification cards are deposited in a bin or cassette located within the ATM. Some of these cassettes are lockable and others are non-lockable.
Periodically these cassettes with the identification cards therein are removed from the ATM by bank personnel and are transported to the host bank as was done with the cassettes containing purged bills. The cassettes are opened, and the stolen cards are retained by the bank, and the cards for authorized users who failed to complete the identification procedure are returned to them.
In order to minimize the theft of valuables from the cassettes which are exposed to various people in the processing chain mentioned, cassettes which are referred to as "secure" cassettes have been developed. These "secure" cassettes generally have complex mechanisms or electrical systems which prevent an unauthorized access into the cassette by the various people in the processing chain.